Welcome to the Konoha Mental Institution
by Slave at the Gates
Summary: After years of schizophrenic episodes, violent outbursts, and no sleep, Kankuro and his older sister Temari decide to enroll their younger brother Gaara in the KMI, a prestigious school/hospital for children with mental issues. But after some digging, Kankuro and Temari find out that this place may not be as wonderful as it seems.


"Kankuro…?"

He jumped in his sleep and sat up, wiping the drool from the side of his mouth. "Gaara…? Hey buddy, what's wrong?"

Gaara sniffed and wiped his eyes on his teddy bear as he approached his older brother's bed. "I had a bad dream… Temari wouldn't wake up so I came here instead. I'm sorry… I know you need your sleep…"

He shook his head and tossed the covers back. "Nah, it's fine. Get in here."

Gaara's eyes lit up and he hurried over to Kankuro's bed, crawled under the covers, and curled up next to Kankuro. Gaara quickly fell asleep and Kankuro wasn't too far behind.

Kankuro woke back up a few hours later when he realized Gaara wasn't in bed anymore. He assumed that Gaara had gone back to his room, but he wasn't there. He saw the light in the kitchen on and realized Gaara had probably gotten up to get a glass of water, so Kankuro went back to his room and started dozing off again.

A weight on his chest woke him up.

Gaara was sitting on top of him, a knife in his hands, and suddenly slammed the blade into the pillow behind his brother.

"Temari!"

Thanks to quick thinking, Kankuro was able to dodge the knife and roll to the floor. Temari was standing in the doorway and Kankuro quickly took refuge behind her legs. "Temari! He tried to kill me!"

Eight Years Later…

"I still don't understand why you're dragging me here…"

"Gaara, you're not sleeping, you're having nightmares when you do, and you black out every now and then and go on a rampage. Did you happen to forget that?"

"Kankuro." Temari scolded. "Give him a break, it's his first day."

"My first day?" Gaara repeated angrily. "You're acting like this is a private school or something!"

"It is—"

"It's a mental institute!"

Silence fell on the car after that and Gaara didn't argue with them, even when they dropped him off at the front gate.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you."

Gaara turned and looked the woman up and down. Shoulder-length blonde hair, busty, and dressed in a suit that contradicted with her motherly tone and smile.

"My name is Tsunade, but you may address me as Headmaster. I'll take you to the front office and my assistant, Jiraiya, will finish up your papers."

She held a hand out to him, but Gaara promptly refused and pushed past her. He wanted to get this over with so they could lock him up and forget about him already.

Jiraiya was a burly man about four feet taller than Gaara dressed in a security uniform and an overly kind smile. "Here." He said, handing Gaara a two-sheet packet. "Fill this out and then we'll send you to your dorm."

"We're getting someone new today."

Silence, save for the growling from Kiba's little section of the room.

"His name is Gaara Sabaku. Be nice to him. Okay?"

Still silent.

"_Kakashi Hatake, please report to the front room. Kakashi Hatake to the front room. Thank you._"

"So, this is your room." Kakashi said, gesturing to the rows of beds along the walls of the room. Gaara was still stone-faced.

"That's Naruto Uzumaki—" he gestured to the boy at the end of the room drawing on the walls with a crayon between his teeth.

"Sakura Haruno—" A young girl who was sitting on her bed, pale-faced and wide-eyed.

"Sasuke Uchiha—" A boy curled up on his bed, his eyes covered by bloody bandages.

"Kiba Inuzuka—" A boy gnawing on the bedframe and growling.

"And Shino Aburame." This boy was playing with a spider who only had one leg.

Gaara was disgusted. He was being put in with these whackos. How pathetic. He sat on his bed anyway. He noted the label at the end of the bed that read, "GAARA SABAKU | SCHIZOPHRENIA, PARANOIA, PTSD | POSSIBLY DANGEROUS | SEDATION AVAILABLE"

He groaned. He was being looped in with the really insane kids. After the introductions, Kakashi, or Doctor Hatake, left. Immediately, the atmosphere in the room changed.

"We haven't had a schizophrenic in years." Sakura said.

"We haven't had a sedation case since Sasuke." Shino pointed out, tossing his spider on the floor.

"That's very nice to know." Gaara said, turning his back to the room to pack his few sets of clothing in the small shelf space above his bed.

"Aw, don't be that way." Naruto said, giggling. "It ain't all bad, we swear. You're the biggest case we've had in ages."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I'm only here because of hyperactivity and mild hallucinations." Naruto said, shrugging.

"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and low blood cells." Sakura said, though that didn't sound like much of a mental issue.

"Hallucinations, continuous eye problems, anger issues, hallucin…" Sasuke trailed off as he fell asleep, probably a result of the sedation Naruto had mentioned.

"They supposedly say I think I'm a dog, but that's not true." Kiba said.

"No, you just believe the spirit of your dead dog is living inside of you." Shino retorted.

"Says the kid who is under the impression that he's the king of the insects." Kiba growled.

"They listen to what I say."

"So?"

"So I'm not hallucinating."

"So." Naruto interrupted. "Why?"

"Why?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm a chronic schizophrenic, the voice of a demon named Shukaku is constantly talking to me and telling me to kill people and I never sleep because if I do he takes over and I try to kill people. I've almost killed my brother and sister more times than you can count of both hands."

"Geeze…" Kiba mumbled. "You ain't gonna do that to us, are ya?"

"Not if I don't fall asleep." He said, pulling out a bottle of energy pills. "I have a prescription."

And that ended the conversation.

"Alright, children! Time to get changed and get outside! We're meeting the new attendee and getting our daily excersise!"

"Yes sir!" Lee said, saluting his father excitedly. The other roommates simply groaned and started changing into their outdoor uniforms.

Neji Hyuga, a boy hospitalized for his eye problems and the mindset that he could see the future, elbowed Lee in the side. "Just get dressed."

Lee nodded and changed into his uniform. The rest of the children in his room, Hinata, Tenten, and Shikamaru followed suit. Doctor Gai, their supervisor and Lee's (annoying) father, lined them up and led them outside.

"I still don't get why he does this…" Shikamaru mumbled. "We're practically adults."

"N-no… I'm only thirteen…" Hinata said quietly.

"But I'm not. Lee isn't either. Neji's the oldest out of all of us, he's seventeen. Why are we still—"

"New student." Neji said quickly when they reached the outdoors.

Gaara was sitting on the sidewalk around the school, staring at the ground while the rest of his group did what they usually did. Sakura was helping Sasuke around the yard even though everyone knew he knew the entire institute like the back on his hand. Naruto and Lee were already chasing each other and stopping to stage fights every few minutes. Hinata had sat down to watch and everyone else had gone to find someone they knew to talk to.

Naruto eventually tired out and ran to talk to someone else and Lee decided to talk to Gaara.

"Hi! I'm Rock Lee, from Area B!"

"Right, the people who don't require sedation and constant supervision like us."

"Ah, don't be like that! It is not all bad! May I sit with you?"

"Why not."

Lee sat down next to Gaara, whose eyes hadn't left the ground once. They sat in silence for a moment and then Lee finally started talking.

"So who brought you here? Your parents? My father works here, so he made sure I got the best treatment when I—"

"My mom is dead. My dad walked out on me and my siblings years ago. He tried to kill me when I was six."

"Oh."

Silence fell again.

"May I ask why you are here?"

"Schizophrenia, paranoia, post-traumatic stress disorder and mild insomnia."

"Ah. I am here on account of… of…"

Lee suddenly trailed off, like he had lost his train of thought. Gaara glanced over and glared at him, wondering why he was wasting his time like this. Then he realized Lee wasn't breathing.

He'd turned deadly pale and was choking on air, spit starting to drip from his lips as he continued to choke.

"Someone… Someone help!" Gaara yelled, jumping up. "He's not breathing!"

"Oh God…" Kakashi mumbled, running to catch Gai. When he found him, Gai rushed to Lee's side, pulling him close and rubbing his back.

"Breathe, Lee, come on, breathe…"

Still nothing but wheezes and gurgles from Lee.

"Breathe, damn it!" Gai yelled, slamming a hand on Lee's back, but still nothing. "Get Tsunade, hurry!"

Lee had started to go limp in Gai's arms, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Gaara was still frozen in shock at the sight of Lee, who by now was foaming at the mouth and clearly about to either pass out or die.

Another slam to the back from Gai and suddenly Lee was breathing again. He choked and coughed and sputtered before finally catching his breath and regaining the color in his cheeks ever so slowly.

_And that was my first day here. You should come visit, I guess. It's alright. The other kids aren't so bad. Maybe I'll actually make some friends here instead of in Arizona._

_Sincerely,_

_Gaara_

_P.S.: Lee's alright. He was in the infirmary for a while. He has sudden, frequent, and violent panic attacks apparently. Doctor Gai let me look at some of his medical file so I could understand a little better. Things will be okay._


End file.
